Article excerpt

An important new book has recently been published which addresses
the question of global poverty, but does so by provoking the reader
to also consider our own nation and demand that we better understand
ourselves and the wellsprings of our own success.

Two evangelical Christians have teamed up, one an economist and
one a theology professor, to write "Poverty of Nations: A
Sustainable Solution."

The economist is Barry Asmus, senior economist at the National
Center for Policy Analysis. The professor is Wayne Grudem, research
professor of theology and biblical studies at Phoenix Seminary.

There is no question more perplexing than "Why are some nations
poor and some rich?"

What accounts for the astounding success of our nation, at the
same time the world's most prosperous but also, at just 227 years
old, one of the world's youngest?

The mystery of the nature and sources of wealth and poverty is
far from new, and Asmus and Gruden survey the vast literature
dealing with this most basic question.

They also review the long experience of attempts by governments
to design policies to alleviate and eradicate poverty in their own
country and in others.

In the end, the picture that emerges appears quite clear. Over
thousands of years of human experience, going through economic
arrangements such as tribalism, slavery, feudalism, mercantilism,
socialism and communism, and welfare-statism, no arrangement can
compare in creating new value, production of goods and services, and
prosperity, like the free market.

However, despite the success of free-market economies, they are
regularly subject to political challenge because of the ongoing
human desire to understand the "ghost in the machine," so to speak,
and control it and its outcomes.

How does it work? How does this prosperity happen when no one
seems to be in charge, and when there seems to be no place to turn
to see who designed and is running it all?

The authors help the lay reader understand key aspects of free
markets that make them work so well - ownership and private
property, the vital information conveyed by prices in the
marketplace and profits and losses of business, specialization and
competition, and creativity and entrepreneurship. …